


love isn't always enough

by ladyapple



Category: Ocean's Eleven Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Tess deserves better, Tess doesn't take Danny back, but Tess still deserves better, don't get me wrong i love Danny, takes place during Danny's four months in prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 06:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20541272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyapple/pseuds/ladyapple
Summary: When Danny gets out of prison and asks Rusty where Tess is, he doesn’t expect the answer.(Or, that one fic where Tess remembers why she left Danny in the first place)





	love isn't always enough

**Author's Note:**

> I love Ocean’s Eleven and I really like Danny but this has been bugging me for WAY too long.

She wraps her hands around her cup, trying to absorb some of its warmth. They’re in a cafe next to her new apartment. She likes coming here. Rusty is seated in front of her, and she knows he isn’t going to start this conversation. She doesn’t want him to.

“I’m not going back to Danny.”

There. She said it. Rusty doesn’t seem surprised. He probably expected this, after she asked him to meet her here. He looks at her calmly.

“…Why?”

She takes in a shuddering breath. Of course he wants to know. She spent the last week thinking about how to explain it to him. She is glad, in a way. She doesn’t have anyone else she can talk to about this.

“I… He manipulated me. I hadn’t even realized he had but – I don’t even know if he did it on purpose or if it’s just a part of him that is always on – he manipulated the situation so that I would fall right back into his arms.”

Her hands tighten on her cup of coffee and she stares at the steam that is still rising from it. She spent so many nights unable to sleep, thinking about everything that happened again and again, feeling angry and then sad, hurt and uncertain, full of rage and then empty, a vicious circle that darkened the bags under her eyes and brought her lower than she had been in a long while. She’s better now, but saying it out loud is enough to make her feel the rush of emotions again.

“Huh. I didn’t think you would realize.”

She looks up at that, not sure what to make of the words, but Rusty just sounds thoughtful, shrugging when she meets his eyes. He doesn’t look apologetic, exactly, but she has to wonder for a moment if he knew what Danny would do, if he approved. She quickly shakes the thought away. It doesn’t change anything.

“Well, I did. And I can’t go back, not after this. I left him for a reason, and I know he’s never going to stop. I can’t ask that of him. But he broke my trust, and I don’t want to try again.”

She doesn’t stutter. She isn’t sure why she thought she would.

“Okay.”

They look at each other steadily.

“He’s your best friend,” she says this like the evidence it is, even if after she learned the truth she often wondered if that was all they were. But she knows Danny would never have cheated on her. She never doubted his love for her.

“Doesn’t mean I always agree with him.” Rusty answers her with another shrug, and she is glad she doesn’t have to hate him. She already spent too much time angry at Danny. She wants to move on.

“I see. Thank you for listening.” Her smile is strained but genuine. Talking about it feels good.

“For what it’s worth, he really loves you.”

“I know. But...” But love isn’t always enough. She feels the words bubbling on her tongue, and she could stop them if she wanted, she knows that, but talking is helping and Rusty is the only one she can tell them to. So she lets go. “But he made me feel like shit. Terry was nice to me. I liked him. I don’t think I could have learned to love him, but what we had was enough for me. I knew how important money was for him. I knew we wouldn’t have lasted more than a few months. But I still wanted to enjoy the time we had left because it felt good, to be treated with respect and attention. And then Danny had to taunt him, ask him to choose between me and money and I knew, I _knew_ what Terry would choose. And I had to watch, to hear him say it, all because of Danny. Because he wanted to make a point, and he didn’t think about me. And that hurt. I felt like a prize to be won, a reward to be given to the victor, and that’s not how I want to feel in a relationship, ever. I _do not_ want to be ‘won over’. I want to choose by myself and for myself, and Danny deprived me of that choice. The worst is that he probably didn’t mean it like that. I know he didn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that it happened, that I felt this way, and now it’s too late for him to take it back.”

Letting the words out is like putting down all the hurt and the rage that has weighed her down for the last few months and finally standing unburdened. She straightens her back and drinks her coffee, and she feels good. Light. She really needed to talk.

“I’m sorry.” She blinks at him. He doesn't look sorry, but his tone is sincere and his eyes are clear. She thinks he might be apologizing for letting Danny do as he wanted. She almost wants to laugh.

“I just wanted you to know, so you could tell Danny why I’m not here for his release. I wrote a letter too. So he can have an explanation in my words, and know that I mean it. I loved him, and that’s what I want to remember. So please don’t let him come after me.” She lets out a quiet chuckle. She’s always wanted to say this. “I won’t be held responsible for my actions if I see him.”


End file.
